


Gabriel

by Morgana



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 07:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana/pseuds/Morgana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He didn't become what he was overnight</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gabriel

He wasn't stupid. He knew what they said about him, the things they whispered whenever his name came up. He might have turned his back on his home, might have renounced his brothers and sisters, but that didn't mean he didn't still keep tabs on them, if only so he knew what they were up to. He had to make sure nobody was hunting him, or at least that's what he told himself whenever he actually listened in on them. Most of the time, he just tried to block it all out, to focus on the here and now and the earthly pleasures he dedicated himself to so he could forget all about the time Before, when home had truly been a home and his family had been loving and joyful and intact.  
  
In the early days, he'd spent a lot more time listening in than he did now. They'd been searching then, looking for him, and he'd been lonesome and homesick enough to take comfort in their voices, muted and distorted as they often were from this distance. The vessel he'd fashioned for himself was new and uncomfortable then, but as the years slid past, it became more malleable, fitting itself to him until it was impossible to remember where it left off and he began.  
  
He never really remembered exactly when he went from wandering the world alone to amusing himself with the humans. It just seemed like a natural conclusion, particularly when he realized that the clever apes Dad had first shown them had grown smarter and yet stupider at the same time. There was no getting away from them - it took surprisingly little time for them to multiply and spread to the ends of the earth, so with nowhere to run, he turned to face them.   
  
Those first encounters weren't always easy, for either him or the humans. He'd burned eyes out with the grace he couldn't quite fully dampen, shattered ears with his voice, and broken bones when he reached out to touch. They called him a god, bent their knees and offered up gifts on one altar after another. He wanted to protest that he wasn't a god, that he was merely the servant of God, but they left honey mead and sticky sweets, and the flavors beguiled him until he decided to be the god they wished to see. Why not? Dad wouldn't begrudge him a dessert or twelve, so it wasn't like it was hurting anyone, not really, especially when he discovered how much fun a little bit of mischief could be.  
  
He was guiding them, he told himself, showing them their folly in ways that were designed to teach them a lesson they would not soon forget. The humans called him Trickster, named him Loki and Coyote and a hundred other things, and he answered to all of them. They were each better than his real name, for every one of them was part of the persona that he'd chosen for himself, and all of them helped mask his true identity, adding to the veneer of the mask he now wore. And as years became centuries and then millennia, it grew easier and easier to forget that he had ever been anything besides what he was now.  
  
Until two brothers showed up in the middle of a prank he was playing out, righteousness and destiny blazing from both of them so brightly that it was difficult to see anything else.  
  
He let them think he was dead, that they had slain him as easily as any other god, and beat a hasty retreat, seeking to get as far away from them as possible. But there was no running from the truth of what they were, nor what it meant that they were there, just like there was no escaping the memories that had begun to awaken. He felt the very fabric of reality ripple when the fateful deal was made, the one that would set it all in motion, and he tried, in his own way, to help them prepare for what was coming. It was closer than he had come in over a thousand years to a true interaction with a human, and it bore no fruit at all, only resentment and a bitter determination on the young human's part to twist fate to serve his own purposes.  
  
Just like his brother. He knew where that path led, and there was nothing good for anyone at the end of it.  
  
With time growing short, he tried one last time to make them see, to realize that destiny had to be served, and the sooner, the better. The forces gathering against them would not be denied, so they would be wise to simply give in and let the last act play out. Then humanity could begin to rebuild again, and perhaps he could rest at last. He was so intent on his masterful plan that he paid little attention to the angelic shadow they'd picked up along the way, and although he knew he should, he could not bring himself to destroy a brother. Especially not this one, with his earnest faith. The same faith he'd once had himself. He should have left them alone as soon as he realized that, but the years had made him prideful and foolish, while the hunters had grown wilier and more resourceful. In a matter of seconds, he was trapped, surrounded by holy fire, forced to speak the name he'd left behind so long ago.  
  
"Gabriel. They call me Gabriel."


End file.
